What kind of 'doctor' will you become?
This year, in light of COVID, each of us needed a doctor of sorts. Those doctors took the form of companies -large and small- who created products like video chatting, online classrooms, and virtual gaming, that came to our rescue, but couldn’t take all of the pain away.
However, well before Coronavirus, you had a doctor’s spirit: wanting to serve the people who needed what you could offer, the medicine only you could concoct. So, you started a hospital. You infused engineering, design, sales, and marketing into your doctor team. You met your user-patients waiting for your product-medicine. Finally, you the founder-physician opened the doors wide… but maybe not wide enough.
In the midst of COVID-19, you may have realized that your hospital doors were jammed: only certain patients could be let in. Not necessarily the most serious cases, but those that were easiest to solve. In this way, you were accepting neurotypical, able-bodied, full “ability” users. But, what about users with disabilities? You never needed to consider these users until COVID-19 disabled many aspects of our lives. As the Coronavirus continues to sweep the nation, you looked down at the product-medicine you created and realized its limitations in a disabled society.
By coming to Denver Startup Week (DSW) and joining the Founder track, you decided to pull on your gloves, secure your mask, and head back into the emergency room, where you were needed all along.
Next time you open your hospital doors with your new knowledge, you can decide to be the kind of doctor that accepts ALL patients, regardless of ability. That means doing three things:
1)Ensuring your website navigation is arrow and tab friendly for users with limited mobility
2)Confirming all of your printed materials use appropriate color-contrast for users with neurodiverse needs
3)Making sure your app is screen-reader compatible for users with low/no vision
You took a form of the Hippocratic Oath when you decided to found your startup: you promised to do your best for your users.
Now that you know what it’s like to need a doctor, what kind of hospital will you run for your user-patients? Will you be the kind of doctor that keeps the hospital doors jammed so that only certain users can enter? Or will you decide in this moment, to be the type of doctor you dreamt of as a kid: the kind that should, could, and would heal all patients? What kind of doctor will you become?
*Photo by Luis Melendez on Unsplash
